A Wicked Song - Lisa Renee Jones Page 0,27
nicest pushy person I’ve ever known.”
“Mark would agree.” She laughs. “It’s a necessary skill as his wife for all kinds of reasons.”
We say a short goodbye, and when we disconnect, I consider her push for me to work through Riptide. Perhaps the money she hints at might make it worth considering. Nancy could run the store, or not if I decide it’s not safe. I just don’t know. Maybe I could take her with me to Riptide. All I know for sure is that I have to think about funding our future here. We’ve gotten by rather than thrived for far too long. Besides, I’d like to fund the hunt for Gio, without taking Kace’s money. Kace matters to me, perhaps too much, too soon. Some might say he came into my life at a vulnerable, even convenient time. But just as easily, some might say, I let that happen because I need him.
And that might just be true. At least, the part where I need him. Kace is becoming necessary, and that has nothing to do with anything but him and me. Us. I hope. Because I’ve decided to trust him.
CHAPTER TWELVE
I finish my lunch with Kace on my mind. And thinking of him reminds me to call my gynecologist. By the time I’m sipping my after-meal coffee, the nurse at my doctor’s office is on the phone, and after a few questions, and a hold for her to talk to the doctor, they agree to call me in my first-ever prescription for birth control pills. In a short time, Kace has changed my life in all kinds of big and small ways. And I am changing—a bird with her wings clipped who’s flying for the first time ever. I can feel it happening, and it’s not about Kace. It’s about me. I was suffocating in captivity. I can’t do it anymore.
Gio couldn’t either.
And I don’t know where that leads him or where it leads me, but I know it’s too late to look back.
With that thought, I look forward. I get back to work, determined to make the money to survive and thrive, to hunt for him, to hunt for our destiny and our future, with him. I should never have allowed the divide between us to form. As my mother always said, we are better together than apart. I think of that carrot Gio is chasing and somehow that collides with the promise of viewing the violin Kace has just discovered with his donor. It’s the only violin on the table.
And now I’m the one with a carrot.
I reach in my purse and pull out the business card Kace’s agent, Nix, gave us or really he gave it to Kace. Kace gave it to me. On the back is a handwritten name and number: Donelle Bianchini. A man with a Stradivarius violin to sell. A chance to find our family secret in that violin. A chance to make a fortune by selling it after I inspect it. His name is Italian, and this bothers me but if this is shady, it might also lead to my brother.
I grab my phone and punch in the number. He answers on the first ring. “Ciao,” he answers, hello in Italian.
“Ciao,” I reply and I shift to Italian. “This is Aria Alard from Accent Collectibles. I understand you have a Stradivarius for sale.”
“And you heard this from who?”
I brazenly drop Nix’s name. “Which violin is it?”
“The Fetzer, a brilliant instrument created in 1695.”
“You have the Fetzer? It’s long been missing. May I ask how you came upon it?”
“It’s been a long-hidden jewel in our family.”
“And you’re parting with it now, why?”
“My daughter died last year. I have no one left to pass it down to. It needs a proper home. This isn’t about money to me though I expect to be paid well.”
“What would you like to get for it?”
“This is a rare find. I believe at auction it could go higher than fifteen million. I might go less if I feel the buyer will love it the way my family has.”
“I have the perfect buyer.”
“Would I know this buyer?”
“Kace August.”
“The Kace August?”
“Yes.”
“My God. Have you heard him play ‘Caprice No. 24’ by Paganini on a Stradivarius?”
“I have. And he’s brilliant.”
“The most brilliant violinist who ever lived. To have him even play my violin—I would die a happy man.”
“When can we see it?”
“I’m in Italy. Can you come here?”
Alarm bells ring in my head. “When will you be in the states?